Various means have heretofore been employed in order to connect the ends of pipes or conduits. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 796,220 discloses a threadless pipe coupling while U.S. Pat. No. 793,103 illustrates a hose pipe coupling.
Breathing apparatus also include hoses or conduits which direct the flow of breathing gases. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,629 teaches a portable emergency respiratory system which include flexible tubes which interfit with one another in a relatively snug-relation.
Medical equipment such as anesthetic breathing apparatus utilize conduits to deliver oxygen with anesthetic gases and vapours to a patient during surgical procedures performed on the patient.
It is important that the conduits in such breathing equipment are properly connected. There is, however, a danger of inadvertant disconnection between such conduits which may lead to drastic results to the patient (such as brain damage or death) if such condition is unnoticed.
Connecting systems for ventilator and anestethic gas machines have heretofore been developed in an attempt to prevent unintended disconnection. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,261 discloses a connection system for ventilators or anestethic gas machines having spring-biased fastening members. Such connection system present a relatively complicated device requiring a relatively costly assemblage of the constituent parts.
Moreover, there has been a recent trend to utilize the Bain circuit configuration in anesthetic breathing circuitry. In this regard U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,246 teaches that in the Bain circuit, the inspiratory and expiratory hoses or conduits are co-axial. In a typical Bain circuit, fresh gas is delivered through the innermost co-axial hose to the distal end of the hose for inspiration by the patient. The outer, larger diameter hose, which surrounds the fresh gas delivery hose serves to warm the inspired gases in the inspiratory conduit and as a fresh gas reservoir containing some fresh gas for inspiration by the patient and as an expiratory channel for communicating gas exhaled by the patient to the exhaust-scavenging portion of the circuit.
The Bain circuit configurations which are presently being utilized do not employ devices for securing such conduits against dislodgment or for sealing such conduits against inadvertant leakage.
It is an object of this invention to utilize an improved device for releasably securing and sealing the ends of conduits in a breathing circuit which present a relatively simple construction that is easily manufactured.
Another object of this invention resides in utilizing an assembly for connecting a co-axial anesthetic breathing circuit to a co-axial mount.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved locking and sealing device which provides tactile as well as visual confirmation of the locking component status.